Storm trooper treks into Esperance

Concerned citizens breathed a sigh of relief when they learnt that unlike the Star Wars version, storm trooper Jacob French is not on the dark side.

This particular solo storm trooper is walking, for a good cause, planning to trek across the country, from Perth to Sydney, to raise money for charity.

Setting off from Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital on the 11th of July, and averaging around 35 kilometres each day (all whilst wearing a 9kg Star Wars costume and pushing a 75 kilo cart containing all his supplies), Jacob French (20) aims to finish his "Troopertrek" in Sydney by February next year.

So what on earth (or rather, what in the universe) possessed this youthful former salesman to commence such a challenge?

"I was walking home from work one day, and I just started wondering if I could walk around the whole of Australia," he said.

"I decided I probably could, and then I thought about doing it for charity. I really like the Starlight Foundation's philosophy of helping the whole family and trying to make them all happy. If you can just make two or three people happy every day, it's worth it. Imagine if everyone did that … the world would be an awesome place."